For those who want a more detailed explanation of the massive Sumatran earthquake than you'll get from CNN, the BBC, or the NYT, check out the US Geological Survey page for the quake. Not only was it a huge quake; it was the result of a huge shift: "Preliminary locations of larger aftershocks following today's earthquake show that approximately 1000 km of the plate boundary slipped as a result of the earthquake." The accompanying map shows the location of the plates and faults; the Indian plate is moving northwards into the Burma plate at 6 cm a year.
I couldn't find much on the web about seismic activity in this area. Roger Bilham's history of earthquakes in India is a reasonable starting point. If readers know of other good studies, could you link to them in comments to this blog entry? And please consider making a donation to the Red Cross, or the emergency aid organisation of your choice.
Posted by geoff2 at December 27, 2004 01:05 AMFrom the same site you referred there is info on past earthquakes and seimic activity around the world.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/activity/past.html
It is part of the Ring of Fire http://snipurl.com/bm0d which includes the western coast of the US is also. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/136248.stm though they need to update their map after yesterday.
Historical tsunamis with death tolls: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/135797.stm
36000 dead in Krakatoa in 1883.
Geoff try www.asc-india.org
Posted by: Jon in Nürnberg at December 27, 2004 06:38 PMThanks for the link - I was wondering about the curious silence, almost a lack of acknowledgment, by the BBC, Sky, ITV. Concerning the vast stretch of coast between between India-Thailand. Burma! did the tidalwave not go there!!
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/001826.html
Posted by: Trevor Groome at December 31, 2004 11:20 AM